Lawsuit Filed Against Grocery Chain Over Escalator Incident That Severed Child’s Fingers

Lawsuit Filed Against Grocery Chain Over Escalator Incident That Severed Child's Fingers
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According to a complaint filed this week in the Lone Star State, a Tennessee family’s lives took a significant turn for the worse when their 3-year-old daughter lost four of her fingers on a “dangerous and defective” escalator following a visit to a well-known grocery store chain in Texas.

In Bellaire, a medium-sized city in the Houston metro area, the Williams family visited the H-E-B on March 30.

According to the lawsuit, the young girl went into the grocery “with no care or worry in the world,” but as she was leaving, the calculus completely changed. The girl “stumbled and sat on the escalator step to catch her balance” while “riding the escalator down with her parents.”

Although evidence indicates a continuous increase in escalator-related injuries since the 1990s, the youngster and her family will soon face a type of anxiety and anguish that is frequently feared but rarely experienced.

“Unbeknownst to her or her family, the escalator had a large gap between the step and the skirt wall which was large enough for a child’s hand to get stuck in,” the lawsuit filed on Wednesday stated. “As [the girl] was catching her balance, her fingers on her right hand got stuck between the moving escalator steps and the stationary wall of the escalator and were sucked into the escalator down to the palm of her hand. To her parents’ horror, [the girl] could not get her hand out of the moving escalator as she continued toward the bottom despite her parents’ desperate attempts to remove her hand.”

The lawsuit claims that safety switches that were supposed to activate “when her hand got stuck” did not. H-E-B and the elevator manufacturer were accused of failing to “maintain, monitor, and keep the escalator in a safe operating condition per its intended design,” which resulted in those switches being “inoperable.”

The outcome of the ordeal is described extensively in the lawsuit.

“Horrifically, [the girl’s] fingers were eventually amputated by the escalator freeing the remainder of her hand,” according to the filing. “Despite the doctors’ best efforts, they were unable to reattach [her] fingers resulting in her being left with only her thumb on her right hand.”

According to the lawsuit, the young girl “lost her four fingers on her dominant hand,” and the Texas grocery store chain and TK Elevator, previously Thyssenkrupp, a business with its U.S. headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, are to blame for the permanent deformity.

According to the plaintiffs, the corporate misconduct did not stop there.

A safety issue involving an escalator must be reported to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) within 24 hours, according to Texas law, and the carrier must be removed from service until the investigation is complete. But the lawsuit claims that didn’t occur.

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“Instead, both companies immediately placed the escalator back in service within a few minutes of the incident, conducted undocumented repairs, took possession of evidence, and conducted numerous inspections and replacements prior to reporting the issues to TDLR,” as per the 14-page original petition. “Each of these actions spoliated evidence and violated the law despite clearly knowing the statutory requirements for Texas.”

But according to the lawsuit, the incident wasn’t reported to the appropriate authorities until a few weeks later.

“At H-E-B, we are deeply committed to our customers and their safety,” according to the statement. “This was an incredibly unfortunate accident that we are taking seriously. Although, based on our current investigation of this matter, the escalator was serviced by a third-party company, we will do our best to support the family through this difficult time.”

Attorney Ben Crump filed the lawsuit, which seeks more than $1 million in damages for exemplary damages for the gross negligence claim, mental anguish and emotional distress, physical pain and suffering, physical impairment, physical disfigurement, past and future medical expenses, and pecuniary loss.

Reference

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With more than two years of expertise in news and analysis, Eileen Stewart is a seasoned reporter. Eileen is a respected voice in this field, well-known for her sharp reporting and insightful analysis. Her writing covers a wide range of subjects, from politics to culture and more.